Night Demon (band)

Night Demon is an American heavy metal band from Ventura, California. The band is among several bands participating in the resurgence of traditional, old-school heavy metal in the 2010s.[1] Night Demon has released two studio albums on independent record labels[2] plus a live concert album, and regularly performs at heavy metal festivals worldwide.

Night Demon
Background information
GenresHeavy metal
Years active2011–present
LabelsCentury Media, SPV/Steamhammer, Shadow Kingdom, High Roller, Reinig
Associated actsCirith Ungol, Jaguar, Gygax, New Liberty, The Fucking Wrath
Websitewww.nightdemon.net
MembersJarvis Leatherby – lead vocals, bass guitar; Dusty Squires – drums, backing vocals; Armand John Anthony – guitars, backing vocals
Past membersBrent Woodward, Patrick Bailey, John Crerar

History

Beginnings / Night Demon EP (2011–2014)

Night Demon was formed by vocalist/bassist Jarvis Leatherby and guitarist Brent Woodward in May 2011.[3]

The Night Demon EP was released on June 18, 2013 in 7” vinyl format (500 copies) via Reinig Records. Two months later, Shadow Kingdom Records issued a CD edition of the EP. The Night Demon EP was well received by the underground heavy metal press; According to a Blabbermouth review, the tracks would appeal to existing fans of vintage headbanger music, and also attract some new listeners to the genre.[4]

In September 2013, Night Demon retained Pennsylvania transplant Dusty Squires (formerly of the band New Liberty) as drummer. A month later, the band performed three shows in Santa Ana, Los Angeles and Las Vegas with NWOBHM bands Raven and Diamond Head. In April 2014, Night Demon made their first festival appearance at the Ragnarokkr Metal Apocalypse in Chicago, Illinois. On April 23, 2014, the band embarked on a six-week, 31-show European tour, starting in Cologne, Germany and including appearances at Keep It True Festival (Germany), Pounding Metal Festival (Spain), and Muskelrock Festival (Sweden).

Night Demon was the guest band on Raven's seven-week “ExtermiNation America Tour 2014” in October and November 2014. During this time, the band's live shows included nightly appearances by the band's mascot “Rocky,” the hooded skeletal goblet-wielding figure from the cover of the Night Demon EP; since then Rocky's appearance onstage during “The Chalice” has become a regular event during Night Demon performances.

Curse of the Damned (2015–2016)

Night Demon's full-length debut album, Curse of the Damned, was released in January 2015 on SPV GmbH in Europe, and on Century Media Records in the rest of the world.[5] The album garnered many favorable reviews,[6][7][8] and was voted the #1 album of 2015 by listeners of the WJCU Metal on Metal radio show.[9]

Guitarist Brent Woodward parted ways with Night Demon in January 2016. His replacement, Armand John Anthony, had served as a studio engineer on both the Curse of the Damned album and the debut EP.[10] He had previously played with Night Demon drummer Dusty Squires in New Liberty, and he had played drums for Night Demon as a last-minute fill-in for a show at the Old Towne Pub in Pasadena, California in 2013.

The new Night Demon lineup continued touring internationally in support of Curse of the Damned. They performed about 100 shows in 2016 and early 2017, including “Final Curse” tours of the United States with Utah band Visigoth. concerts in Europe in which they performed Curse of the Damned in its entirety, a slot on the Carcass / Crowbar / Ghoul tour of the US in summer 2016, appearances at Germany's Bang Your Head!!! Festival, a second appearance at their hometown Frost & Fire Festival, and a 19-show South American tour.

Darkness Remains (2017–2018)

Night Demon's second album, Darkness Remains, was released in April 2017 on SPV GmbH in Europe, and on Century Media Records in the rest of the world. The album was preceded by the singles “Welcome to the Night” (with an accompanying music video)[11] and “Hallowed Ground.[12]” A 7” vinyl single for “Black Widow” was also issued, backed with a cover version of Black Sabbath's "Turn Up the Night". Darkness Remains was released to positive reviews from the worldwide heavy metal press, including monthly soundcheck rankings of #1 in Deaf Forever magazine and #3 in Hard Rock. The German Metal Hammer magazine praised Darkness Remains, and recommended the album to fans of early music by Iron Maiden, Jaguar (band), and Tygers of Pan Tang.[13]

Night Demon played more than 100 shows around the world in 2017 in support of Darkness Remains. Highlights included a spring USA tour supporting Anvil (band), a spring European tour dubbed “Darkness Over Europe,” a November tour of the UK and Ireland (Darkness over U.K.&Ireland), and appearances at festivals in Europe and the US, including Ozzfest (California), Rock Hard (Germany), Summer Breeze Open Air (Germany), Party San (Germany), Keep It True (Germany), Very ‘Eavy (Netherlands), Pounding Metal (Spain), Up the Hammers (Greece), Muskelrock (Sweden), Headbangers Open Air (Germany), Chaos Descends (Germany), Defenders of the Old (New York), Days of Darkness (Maryland),[14] and Frost & Fire (California). Night Demon closed out the year with a headlining appearance at the Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive in Cleveland, Ohio in December. The show was recorded in front of a large crowd at The Beachland Ballroom and was released as a triple-live album, Live Darkness, in August 2018 via Century Media Records/Shadow Kingdom Records in the US, and SPV GmbH in Europe.[15][16][17]

In September 2017, the German Metal Hammer magazine presented Night Demon with an award for best “Up & Coming” band.[18] The Metal Hammer awards show received substantial international media coverage.[19] Darkness Remains was named album of the year in magazines such as Deaf Forever and Rocks!, and Night Demon again earned the top spot in the WJCU Metal on Metal Listeners Poll for 2017.[20]

In 2018 Night Demon toured Europe for five weeks in January and February 2018 as part of Accept’s “The Rise of Chaos” tour. That summer they went on the European festival circuit, including return engagements at the Rock Hard Festival and the Bang Your Head!!! Festival in Germany, and Muskelrock in Sweden, as well as their debut appearance at the Wacken Open Air Festival, the largest heavy metal festival in the world.

Live Darkness (2018-2020)

Following the release of the Live Darkness album in summer 2018, Night Demon embarked on extensive tours of the United States and Europe, then played a series of one-off shows in both North America and Europe. On November 30, 2018, the band performed at the Decibel Magazine festival pre-party at the legendary Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood, California supporting Armored Saint.[21] On December 21, 2018, Night Demon played the "Another Death Angel Xmas" show with Bay Area thrash veterans Death Angel at the famed Slim's venue in San Francisco, California.[22]

On February 2 & 3, 2019, Night Demon played a pair of shows aboard the Independence of the Seas cruise ship as part of the 70000 Tons of Metal Festival traveling between Ft. Lauderdale and Haiti.[23] On March 2, 2019, the band headlined the Hell Over Hammaburg festival at the Markthalle Hamburg in the city of Hamburg, Germany. At this special show, former Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth joined Night Demon on stage for an encore consisting of "In Trance" and "Top of the Bill" from the Scorpions' 1975 In Trance album.[24] In November and December 2019, Night Demon conducted a five-week tour of Europe as direct support for Arizona thrash band Sacred Reich.[25]

In spring 2020, Night Demon released their first new music in three years. On April 3, 2020, the band released a new single called "Empires Fall," featuring a cover of "Fast Bikes" by obscure NWOBHM band Le Griffe as the B-side.[26] On May 8, 2020, Night Demon released a second single entitled "Kill the Pain," with the B-side being a cover of Cirith Ungol song "100 mph".[27]

Discography
  • Night Demon EP (Shadow Kingdom Records) – 2013, re-released in various formats on a number of labels in 2014–2018
  • Curse of the Damned (Century Media/USA, Steamhammer/Europe) – January 2015
  • Darkness Remains (Century Media/USA, Steamhammer/Europe) – April 2017
  • Live Darkness (Century Media and Shadow Kingdom/USA, Steamhammer/Europe) – August 2018
  • Empires Fall single (Century Media) - April 2020
  • Kill the Pain single (Century Media) - May 2020

Band members

Current members:

  • Jarvis Leatherby – lead vocals, bass guitar (2011 – present)
  • Dusty Squires – drums, backing vocals (2013 – present)
  • Armand John Anthony – guitars, backing vocals (2016 – present)

Former members:

  • Brent Woodward – guitars (2011–2016)
  • Patrick Bailey – drums (2011–2012)
  • John Crerar – drums (2012–2013)

References
  1. "Review: Night Demon Darkness Remains". Antichrist Magazine, January 13, 2018. by Steve Thomas-Green.
  2. "Interview: Night Demon rises with "Darkness Remains". Noise Pollution, July 3, 2017, by James Mayse
  3. "Night Demon". Encyclopedia Metallum: The Metal Archives. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  4. Van Horn Jr., Ray. "Night Demon: Night Demon". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  5. "Night Demon – Curse of the Damned Album Details Revealed". BraveWords. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  6. "Quick Review: NIGHT DEMON Curse of the Damned". Metal Injection, review by Matthew Chernus on February 12, 2015
  7. "Night Demon: Curse Of The Damned". Metal-Temple, by Gil Lecht, January 8, 2015
  8. "Night Demon – Curse of the Damned (Album Review)". Cryptic Rock, March 26, 2015. Gerard Smith
  9. "Night Demon's Curse of the Damned Takes Top Honors in WJCU's Metal on Metal Listener Poll". Bravewords. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  10. McCarthy, Michael. "Exclusive Interview: Vocalist Jarvis Leatherby of New Metal Sensation Night Demon". Love is Pop. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  11. "Night Demon Debut 'Welcome to the Night' Music Video; Band on Tour Now with Anvil". BraveWords. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  12. "Night Demon Release 'Hallowed Ground' Lyric Video, Digital Single". BraveWords. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  13. Halupczok, Marc. "Night Demon – Darkness Remains". Metal Hammer. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  14. Lake, Daniel. "Live Review: Days of Darkness, Part 2 (Sunday, October 29 @ Rams Head Live in Baltimore)". Decibelmagazine.com. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  15. "Night Demon – Live Darkness (Century Media/ Shadow Kingdom Records)". Dead Rhetoric, Monday, August 13, 2018. review by Matt Coe
  16. "Night Demon – Live Darkness". Metal-Temple, August 23, 2018, review by Marcos Garcia.
  17. "Night Demon – Live Darkness (Steamhammer/SPV)". Sentinel Daily, July 25, 2018. Review by Ferry Templeton.
  18. "Winners Revealed for 2017 'Metal Hammer Awards'". ThePRP. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  19. Grundke, Vincent. "METAL HAMMER Awards in Mattschwarz vergeben". BZ-Berlin.
  20. "Night Demon's Darkness Remains Takes Top Honours in WJCU's Metal on Metal Listener Poll". BraveWords. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  21. Shepyer, Rob. "Decibel Metal & Beer Fest Pre-Party: Armored Saint at the Troubadour" (http://www.jankysmooth.com/armored-saint-troubadour-decibel-12-10-2018/). Janky Smooth. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  22. Pehling, Dave. "Local Thrash-Metal Heroes Hold Annual Holiday Shows" (https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/12/18/local-thrash-metal-heroes-annual-holiday-shows-death-angel-slims-san-francisco/). CBS SF BayArea. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  23. D.T. Metal. "70000 Tons of Metal 2019 - Days 4: Jam-Packed Till the End!" (http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/article.php?article_id=1990). Metal Storm. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  24. "Night Demon Joined on Stage by Legendary Scorpions Guitarist Uli Jon Roth" (http://bravewords.com/news/night-demon-joined-on-stage-by-legendary-scorpions-guitarist-uli-jon-roth-photos-video). BraveWords. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  25. "Sacred Reich Announces Highly Anticipated New Album, 'Awakening'" (https://www.metalblade.com/us/news/sacred-reich-announces-highly-anticipated-new-album-awakening/). Metal Blade Records. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  26. "Night Demon Release "Empires Fall" 7" Single" (http://bravewords.com/news/night-demon-release-empires-fall-7-single-lyric-video-streaming). BraveWords. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  27. "Night Demon Release 7" Single "Kill the Pain"" (http://bravewords.com/news/night-demon-release-7-single-kill-the-pain-lyric-video). BraveWords. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
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